quick clicks

preteenagers today articles

preteenagers today q&a

teenagers today articles

teenagers today q&a

community & groups

research baby names

prepare a birth plan

content channels

ip channel rss feeds

read birth stories

read parenting stories

recommended books

e-newsletters

safety recalls

ip diaries

ip store

mom of the month

dad of the month

editor's letter

letters to the editor

That Old Holiday Spirit

Help Your Preteen Make the Most of the Season

By Tara Swords

This holiday season, when you're consumed with the desire to give your child the designer jeans you never had, encourage her to feel a variation on that same drive – to give other people basic necessities they might not have if not for another person's generosity.

Here are a few ideas to entertain. Talk about them with your child and think up some activities of your own.

• Go caroling at a nursing home. Many of the elderly either have no family or have no family living close by. The holidays can be particularly hard for them, and a visit from young people is enough to brighten someone's day.
• See if you can read to children in a local hospital.
• Donate an old coat that no longer fits to a local Salvation Army or Coats for Kids program.
•  Have your child pick out one toy from her wish list and donate it to a local toy drive or Santa program.
• Encourage your child to work with his school in taking up a coin collection for a local homelessness shelter.
• Pick up some red velvet ribbon and wire from a craft store. Make red holiday bows for neighbors to hang on their front doors.
• Instead of making out a wish list, have your child make out a "grateful" list. Encourage her to think of all the things in her life for which she is grateful and to list them on paper.